Nevada unemployment lowest since Nov. 2008

Nevada’s unemployment rate fell to 9 percent in November, its lowest rate since November 2008.

That number represents the seasonally adjusted rate. The raw rate was even lower — 8.5 percent statewide. That’s down from October’s 9.3 percent.

Gov. Brian Sandoval said November marks 35 consecutive months of year-over-year job growth, with positive numbers in nearly every sector of Nevada’s economy.

“As we end 2013, Nevada expects to have added approximately 50,000 jobs since 2010,” Sandoval said.

However, there still are 123,000 Nevadans looking for work in a labor force of 1.36 million.

In Carson City, the number of people looking for work fell to about 2,400 out of 26,500 in the work force. Key to that decrease was nearly 200 hires by federal and state agencies.

The numbers were better in the Reno and Las Vegas areas, which aren’t nearly as dependent on government jobs. The percentage of unemployed in Reno-Sparks was just 8.2 percent. In Las Vegas, the number was 8.6 percent.

Year over year, unemployment has decreased 0.6 percent in Carson City and 1.2 percent in Las Vegas and the Reno-Sparks metropolitan areas.

Lyon County remains Nevada’s hardest-hit reporting area at 11.5 percent unemployment. But that’s a full 0.7 percent less than in October and nearly 4 percent below the 15.3 percent out of work when Lyon began the calendar year.

Churchill County reported its lowest unemployment rate of the year in November. At 7.1 percent, that leaves only some 900 looking for work in a labor force of 12,680. That is 0.4 percent better than in October.

Churchill started the year with a 9.1 percent jobless rate.

According to economist Bill Anderson of the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, historical trends would have predicted a decline of about 700 total jobs from October to November. Instead, he said, Nevada added 8,800 jobs, a seasonally adjusted gain of 9,500 jobs.

The national unemployment rate also fell 0.3 percent from October through November. That number is just 7 percent, significantly lower than in Nevada.

While Nevada’s recovery has lagged behind that of the nation as a whole, the state is closing in on California, which, for November, reported an adjusted rate of 8.7 percent.